Mint Chocolate Matcha Shake. Photo: The Skinny Chef

Matcha is a variety of finely-powdered green tea that is used particularly in traditional Japanese tea ceremonies. Powdered green matcha tea from health food stores can be costly -- about $8 for a small container -- but it goes a long way.

Green tea ice cream, green tea pound cakes, madeleines -- I've made them all. This week I decided to remake the mint chocolate chips that I craved as a child at 31 Flavors.

Get Jennifer's Mint Matcha Chocolate Chip Shake recipe after the jump.

Want a cup of tea that brews in three seconds?

When I first began to dabble in green tea, I absolutely hated it. It was bitter, drying to the mouth, wretched taste, and I was left for a long time feeling that green tea just wasn't for me. Many people I knew who drank black tea felt the same way, so I concluded that green tea was for the few who had the palette for it.

Of course, this was during a time when the only other tea drinkers I knew were buying Bigelow or Lipton bags and, like myself, just throwing them in some boiling hot water and coming back whenever we remembered to take the bag out, squeezing the bag thoroughly to get the last drops into the cup.

I shudder these days when I think about how badly I was scalding my first attempts at green tea, and I marvel that I enjoyed any tea at all, considering the way in which I was preparing it. This is a predicament many novice tea drinkers find themselves when it comes to anything other than black tea: you're scalding (and probably over-steeping it).

Are you an avid tea drinker looking for a different way to enjoy your tea this summer? A lot of tea drinkers go iced in the warm summer months, some even adding lemonade to their iced tea, but there is an even colder way to enjoy your tea in the summer months if you enjoy green tea: smoothies!

Below you will find the recipe for my personal summer tea concoction, which will require matcha (powdered green tea). Matcha is high in caffeine content compared to regular steeped tea, so you may not want to indulge in one of these smoothies too late in the day.

INGREDIENTS
1 tsp matcha (powdered green tea)
4 oz. cup of fruit-flavored yogurt (Light 'n Fit works well, low in sugar)
frozen strawberries (or other desired fruit)
frozen peach slices (or other desired fruit)
apple juice

There is a new product out in Japan that I would love to get a hold of. It's an instant, fresh matcha tea, two words that usually aren't paired together when talking about tea, especially the bottled kind. The unique bottle design allows the tea to be both.

The design makes it so that when you twist the air tight cap a portion of matcha tea is released into mineral water. All you have to do is shake it up. Matcha is a traditional Kyoto (Japan) green tea that is very green and is usually the go-to flavoring for anything "green tea". It's made from leaves that have been covered so that it grows more slowly, which makes it a little sweeter.

As a big fan of tea, I would really like to be able to try an instant, fresh matcha tea. Does anyone know if this is available in the US?

[Via Trends in Japan]

We've heard a lot in the last few years about the health benefits of green tea. It can help with everything from weight loss to cancer prevention. But could the polyphenols in green tea be the next miracle substance?

Researchers in India have been looking into new uses for green tea extracts (GTE), and have come out with a cool new use for them. The researchers found that the extracts can act as a preservative on meat in a room temperature setting. They say that the meat will last four days longer than if left untreated by GTE.

This discovery has major ramifications for undeveloped countries where refrigeration is still scarce. This means that they will have that much more time to sell their goods before things start to spoil, and consumers have that much more time to use the meat. I think that natural preservatives could (and should) be the way of the future. The whole world drinks green tea: what could be more natural than that?

The idea of slurping ramen in zero gravity makes me chuckle. I imagine strands of noodles floating around a space capsule while Strauss plays. Clearly that's not the image that the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) had in mind when it approved 29 foods for use in space earlier this week.

JAXA's spaceworthy menu includes instant ramen noodles, curry, onigiri rice balls, powdered green tea and mackerel in miso sauce. All of the products had to meet the stringent standards of the International Space Station, which include packaging capable of withstanding drastic changes in air pressure and temperature. JAXA hopes that astronaut Koichi Wakata, who will be stationed at the ISS starting in fall of 2008 will get to enjoy the new Japanese space cuisine. Too bad sake and natto did not make the menu.

We've heard this for years about all kinds of black and green teas - not just Oolong - but now there seems to be even more medical evidence that it's true: drinking tea can help you lose weight.

Not to get all technical, but it seems that the polyphenol compound in tea enhances the function of fat metabolism, which helps you lose weight. Researchers in China have been studying this for five years, paying special attention to how it affects kids. And Oolong seems to work the best.

I wonder if the obesity-fighting is hurt if you add a lot of milk and sugar?

• The allure of tapas.
• Cooking lessons from Rome: Ricotta pudding.
• Green tea: it's the new "bran."
• It's spring, and that means it's time for asparagus.
• This book says to drink olive oil as an appetite suppressent.
• Everyone's eating lunch again (did it ever really go away?).
• This week's recipes: Beef with Cumin, Lemony Chicken Caesar, Homestyle Bean Curd, Cod Salad, and Chunky Dark and White Chocolate Cookies.

The New Year is always full of possibilities. There are meals to be eaten, recipes to try and, of course, a slew of new food trends that will shape the way we eat and what food issues will be at the forefront of the news. Of all the trends that seemed to be pushing towards the forefront in recent months, these are some of those that look like they're about to have a breakout year.

Single Origin Chocolates - Dark chocolate was the hot item last year, but more companies, including Hershey's, are introducing and promoting single origin chocolates with cocoa beans from one country - or even one plantation - for their unique flavor profiles.

Healthy Soft Drinks - Jones Soda has eliminated high fructose corn syrup from their recipes. Enviga has been fairly successful so far, thanks to the large amount of publicity that it has received, and Diet Coke Plus will be coming to stores in a few months. Look for other soda companies to follow suit.

Healthy Food Labels - Hannaford supermarket introduced a labeling scheme of their own to direct shoppers to healthier foods and the traffic light system was a success in the UK. Don't be surprised to see more obvious messages about what is and is not good for you.

The other day I tried a bottle of a great new soda. At least it was new to me. Turns out it's been around for a couple of years. I came across Zota Green Tea Soda, in of all places, a kosher deli. Usually, when I eat deli I drink Dr. Brown's Cel-Ray, but I'm always game for something new. They had only one flavor, root beer.

While it didn't have the world's most pronounced root beer flavor, it was quite good and incredibly refreshing. Like most better sodas, Zota has no high-fructose corn syrup. Rather it uses evaporated cane juice as a sweetener. It packed a nice little caffeine kick and I'm sure also carried all the health benefits of green tea. I can't wait to try some of the other flavors, which include ginger, cola, lime and orange.

After looking at the company's web site I understand why Zota was in the deli's beverage case. Not only is it organic, it's also certified kosher.

After months and months of green and white tea based products, including Enviga, green tea lattes and even green tea vodka, some beverage companies are starting to go back to black teas as the inspiration for their drinks. Nestle and Coca Cola announced this week that they would be concentrating their joint venture project on black tea-based beverages after the group has rolled out Enviga in Europe in early 2007.

The green tea craze was all in the name of the various health benefits that have been attributed to it. Black tea is still a consumer favorite, however, and now there are studies that have shown that drinking any kind of tea can be good for your health, so there is no reason to stay away from it as a drink option. On top of that, green tea seems to have oversaturated the market for the time being and people are probably ready for a change. It will be interesting to see what the group comes up with, since green tea drinks tended to be far more innovative than the average flavored ice tea and perhaps some of the inspiration for those drinks will be applied to black teas now.

If you use loose leaf tea to make yourself a cuppa, you know that, in addition to being difficult to clean out every last bit of tea leaf, a lot of them get thrown away. They might not be strong enough to make more tea with, but there are a lot of uses for used up tea leaves, some of which still benefit from the antioxidant power of green tea. To prepare the used leaves, first dry them completely by laying them on a sieve or even a series of paper towels. Once dry, they can be used to:

• Take odors out of cutting boards by rubbing a freshly washed board with the leaves, then washing again. They can also help to absorb odor in carpets and even cat litter.
• Fill a small cotton bag with the leaves, dampen it, and place on your eyes to reduce puffiness. If you want to use this technique on your whole body, you can make the bag larger and put it in the bath.
• Green tea is a natural source of fluorine, which fights cavities and gingivitis, as well as strengthening teeth, so the leaves can be mixed with water and used as a mouthwash.

[Thanks, Robert]

October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month and to raise awareness and help to raise funds for charities that support cancer research, many companies offer special promotions and products. The Republic of Tea is one such company, with a number of products where a portion of the proceeds goes directly to charity. In fact, as of yesterday, the Republic of Tea has contributed over a half million dollars to the Susan G Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, which is pretty impressive since it comes just from tea.

Their Sip for the Cure line includes Pink Grapefruit Green Tea, which was their original offering in the collection, Pink Rose Green Tea, Lady Apple Green Tea and Pink Lemonade Green Tea, as well as marmalade, a mug and a teapot.

Drinking tea won't really allow you to live forever, but that is certainly the first thought that popped into my head after reading the headline "Drinking tea linked to reduced risk of death." The article that accompanied the headline was about a recent Japanese study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association investigating the health benefits of drinking green tea. As other studies have shown numerous benefits, it was only natural to aim big and see exactly how beneficial the tea was, rather than continuing to only look at each possible factor individually. The study concluded that "those who drank five cups of green tea per day were 16 percent less likely to die from any cause during the 11-year study than those who drank less than one cup per day."

Does this mean that your life expectancy will increase if you drink more green tea? Not exactly, but it does mean that you can potentially decrease various risk factors that could contribute to health problems. In short, green tea isn't going to add any extra years to your life, but it could help to prevent those years from being cut short unnecessarily.